Demon Deacons in need of bounce-back performance

Published: Friday, February 14, 2014 at 10:15 PM.

After a strong start to its season, Wake Forest is in the midst of a four-game losing streak. After kicking off their home schedule 12-0, the Demon Deacons lost their two most-recent games at the Joel Coliseum.

Things aren’t looking too bright for the black and gold.

Most recently, the Demon Deacons dropped an 82-67 decision to North Carolina State, a game in which senior forward Travis McKie said his team gave away too many easy points.

“They had the momentum, they were at home and they made a lot of shots,” McKie said. “We gave them too many easy points. You’ve got to live and learn.”

After the game, coach Jeff Bzdelik spent longer than usual talking to his team in the locker room.

“(He was) just telling us the importance of every possession,” McKie said of the talk. “Turning the ball over and not making free throws is critical.”

The Demon Deacons hit just 14 of 31 free throws and turned the ball over 14 times.

In front of the media, Bzdelik had a similar story.

“Neither half did we defend at all, and we tried different defenses,” he said. “You’re not going to win games when you can’t defend well, you don’t take care of the basketball and you don’t make free throws because that’s a turnover too. End of story.”

That defense, the defense that allowed N.C. State’s T.J. Warren to score a career-high 34 points, was a talking point for sophomore forward Devin Thomas.

“Coach only needs to make us do defense for all practice, for three hours, that’s all he needs to make us do is defense, defensive drills, defensive drills,” he said. “You saw it (against N.C. State), that’s terrible. We beat ourselves.”

Wake Forest will look to turn things around Saturday night against Florida State in the comfortable confines in Winston-Salem. Thomas said the key is sticking together as a team through the tough times.

“We’ve just got to learn from each and every experience that we have, not making any excuses,” Thomas said. “We’re still young, got seven sophomores. We’ve just got to play through it. We’ve just got to stay together. As long as we stay together as one, we’ll be good, we’ll be fine. Just need one win, get this win on Saturday and then we’ll move on.”

Guard Codi Miller-McIntyre, who scored a team-high 15 points off the bench in a return from injury against N.C. State, spoke about the importance of effort.

“We’ve just got to play with effort,” he said. “All them drills, Coach yelling at us, it doesn’t mean nothing if we don’t go on the court and do it.”

Tip-off

Who: Florida State (14-10, 5-7) at Wake Forest (14-10, 4-7)

When: 8 Saturday night (RSN)

Where: Joel Coliseum, Winston-Salem

Series: Wake Forest leads 24-21, although Florida State has won five of the last six meetings.

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After a strong start to its season, Wake Forest is in the midst of a four-game losing streak. After kicking off their home schedule 12-0, the Demon Deacons lost their two most-recent games at the Joel Coliseum.

Things aren’t looking too bright for the black and gold.

Most recently, the Demon Deacons dropped an 82-67 decision to North Carolina State, a game in which senior forward Travis McKie said his team gave away too many easy points.

“They had the momentum, they were at home and they made a lot of shots,” McKie said. “We gave them too many easy points. You’ve got to live and learn.”

After the game, coach Jeff Bzdelik spent longer than usual talking to his team in the locker room.

“(He was) just telling us the importance of every possession,” McKie said of the talk. “Turning the ball over and not making free throws is critical.”

The Demon Deacons hit just 14 of 31 free throws and turned the ball over 14 times.

In front of the media, Bzdelik had a similar story.

“Neither half did we defend at all, and we tried different defenses,” he said. “You’re not going to win games when you can’t defend well, you don’t take care of the basketball and you don’t make free throws because that’s a turnover too. End of story.”

That defense, the defense that allowed N.C. State’s T.J. Warren to score a career-high 34 points, was a talking point for sophomore forward Devin Thomas.

“Coach only needs to make us do defense for all practice, for three hours, that’s all he needs to make us do is defense, defensive drills, defensive drills,” he said. “You saw it (against N.C. State), that’s terrible. We beat ourselves.”

Wake Forest will look to turn things around Saturday night against Florida State in the comfortable confines in Winston-Salem. Thomas said the key is sticking together as a team through the tough times.

“We’ve just got to learn from each and every experience that we have, not making any excuses,” Thomas said. “We’re still young, got seven sophomores. We’ve just got to play through it. We’ve just got to stay together. As long as we stay together as one, we’ll be good, we’ll be fine. Just need one win, get this win on Saturday and then we’ll move on.”

Guard Codi Miller-McIntyre, who scored a team-high 15 points off the bench in a return from injury against N.C. State, spoke about the importance of effort.

“We’ve just got to play with effort,” he said. “All them drills, Coach yelling at us, it doesn’t mean nothing if we don’t go on the court and do it.”

Tip-off

Who: Florida State (14-10, 5-7) at Wake Forest (14-10, 4-7)

When: 8 Saturday night (RSN)

Where: Joel Coliseum, Winston-Salem

Series: Wake Forest leads 24-21, although Florida State has won five of the last six meetings.